Photo by Justin See
From Draven’s Desk:
I know that many of you may not be in a band, but I want to share this with you regardless, because it applies to much more than just bands.
Jon Ostrow at MicControl recently released an article called 100 New Years Resolutions For the Proactive Musician (http://bit.ly/fFzR2s). If you’re a band, it’s a must read. The same day, Michael Brandvold made a post (http://bit.ly/f1ZMuI), quoting Author David Meerman Scott, “If you want 20,000 fans you must do 2000 different things that each generate 10 fans.”
So what?
This got me thinking. So many of us make New Year’s resolutions that we never follow through with. Or at least, we make lofty goals and get burned out half way to meeting that goal. We can easily attribute this to lack of motivation, lack of support, not the right environment, not the right or not enough information, and the list goes on. But when it comes down to it, the real reason is just bad planning and unrealistic expectations. That’s where the 2000 things to generate 20,000 fans thing comes in. Only, your goal may not be to get 20,000 fans. You might instead wan to lose that extra weight, quit your day-job, turn that business from a hobby into a full-time money-generating machine, spend the Summer backpacking through Europe, buy that new car, or any number of other things. My point is, you have goals and dreams, and all that’s missing is the 2000 things you need to do in order to reach that goal.
But 2000 is a LOT of steps!
Yes, 2000 seems like a lot, but can you imagine how cool it would be to have step-by-step instructions laid out in front of you that lead you to precisely that goal you want to meet? How awesome is that?! And often, there’s not even close to 2000 things you need to do. Most often, you only need to take the first few most critical steps, adjust, and then move forward again. With my students from Rockstar Mindset, I call this “Ready, Fire, Aim. Then Fire again.”
When’s the last time you planned out that New Year’s resolution? When did you start at the end and work backwards, so that you knew what realistic steps had to be taken, and what results to expect with each of those steps? What if you did exactly that? Set a date for your goal, then work backwards. What steps need to be taken immediately before you meet your goal? And what about before that? And before that?
How do we use this?
For our first show, The Silent Still laid out all the things that we needed to get done to ensure it is a great show. Then we prioritized all those steps by the week. When we lost our bass player, all our tentative, non-written plans got thrown out the window. So we only had 5 weeks to get a new bass player and drummer, design a banner, get our cigarette girls designed and ready, rehearse our set list, pick apart our performance, promote, get a photographer and videographer, and many other special things we have planned for you. With so many pieces that needed to fall in place, we had to write out a plan or we would never meet such a lofty goal. Every week, we have priorities that need met, and each week we step that much closer to the goal. Next week is even written out by the day, just to ensure we get all the details covered. And the result is that even though we had an overwhelming amount of things to do, that would scare most people away, we are right on target to meet our goal.
How can YOU use this?
What would it be like if you did this for your own goals? How much easier will it be when you have a written, step-by-step plan of action?
For a band, it may be 2000 steps to get 20,000 fans. It may be 20 milestones or smaller goals with 100 steps each. But what about you? What goals and dreams do you want to reach for and finally see happen? Let us know what goals you now will plan for. What passion, dream, or even physical goal do you want to make happen, and when will you meet that goal?
Throw out that New Year’s resolution, which we all rarely follow through with anyway, and create a challenge: 2000 things you will do to generate 20,000 fans. Or, 100 things you will do to meet that incredible goal you have. Write out all the steps you need to take. Prioritize them by the month or week. And most importantly, take action.
~Draven
